Texas, 1970.
Senator Ralph Yarbrough faced reelection in 1970. This was not surprising, it'd been 6 years he'd won his last election so it was time to face the voters of Texas once again. Yarbrough was certainly an odd politician to hail from Texas. He'd voted
for the Great Society, very publicly. Texas was not exactly a liberal state and so he faced backlash. He'd supported the Civil Right's Act and other desegregation efforts. Texas was a solidly Southern state and many did not take kindly to his actions. Finally he'd been vocally opposed to the Johnson Administration's handling of the Vietnam War, despite backing his former friend Domestically. Texas was a hawkish state. Still Yarbrough had a loyal support base, comprised of Liberal Democrats. It seemed like he'd have a smooth road to the democratic nomination, at the very least.
Then came Lloyd Bentsen.
Bentsen was a World War Two veteran turned Congressmen turned successful businessman. He was a face for the moderate, if not conservative wing of the Texas Democratic Party. He took advantage of Yarbrough's poor political moves. He attacked Yarbrough for his support of Civil Rights initiatives, especially Busing. He used his military background to drum up support for Vietnam and attack Yarbrough. Suddenly the sitting Senator faced a tough reelection campaign.
But there was one last twist.
The sudden and shocking entry of Former President Lyndon Johnson into the Senate race took most commentators aback, considering just how unpopular he was nationwide. But Texas was different, and Johnson knew Texas. He still had a loyal following ready to truly go "All the Way With LBJ" and threw the race into chaos. He struck an unapologetic tone in favor of the Great Society and Civil Rights, which appealed him to Yarbrough supporters. While he (very cautiously and sullenly) admitted that "there were some errors" made in Vietnam the former Commander-in-Chief remained supportive of the overall war and its goals. This in turn helped him with Benstien supporters. He was the middle ground for Pro-Great Society and Pro-Vietnam supports, however rare they were. As the architect of the Great Society as well as Vietnam he appealed to more one issue voters on each of the subjects. He also ran an incredibly strong campaign playing up his strong experience in the Senate and his record. When the Primary finally rolled around he found himself in first place over Benstien then Yarbrough, though by nowhere near enough to avoid a runoff.
1970 Democratic Texas Senate Primary - Round 1
Lyndon Johnson- 36%
Lloyd Benstien- 34%
Ralph Yarbrough- 30%
Yarbrough, despite having an opinion of Lyndon Johnson that had become increasingly bitter over the years, saw him as the lesser of the two evils and backed him over Benstien. As for Benstien himself he'd initially poured his efforts into painting Yarbrough as a "wooly headed liberal" type, a tactic that left him woefully unprepared for a race against the definitively not wooly headed Johnson. This, along with Yarbrough's support, meant that Johnson had a relatively easy time in the runoff.
1970 Democratic Texas Senate Primary - Runoff
Lyndon Johnson- 64%
Lloyd Benstien- 36%
Thus Johnson's attention turned to his Republican opponent, George HW Bush, who had faced a much less grueling Republican Primary. Bush had backed Civil Rights and favored the Nixon Administration on Vietnam. Johnson proved stronger then Bush however as he wrapped up the Economically Liberal groups that had been at best lukewarm about Benstien. He slammed Bush for his relative lack of experience and called him a carpetbagger. In the end the only thing that kept the race close was the unpopularity of Johnson in some areas.
Texas Senate Election 1970
Lyndon Johnson- 52%
George HW Bush- 48%
